| When it comes to holiday shopping and looking for | | | | house one day caught fire; I guess she had left the |
| new furniture, the latest designs are not always the | | | | burner on or at least that’s what I was told, and |
| best way to go. Think about investing in Amish | | | | the rest of the house burnt down with it. Fortunately |
| furniture for this holiday and you might find that the | | | | my grandmother wasn’t home at the time, but |
| memories of past traditions will become a part of the | | | | unfortunately the house was lost and the hutch with it, |
| present season. | | | | a fact that her daughter and my grandmother would |
| With the New Year and other holidays around the | | | | complain about for many years after. |
| corner, the time has come to start shopping for new | | | | |
| furniture for your house, but before you go out and | | | | At any rate, when I got older, for some reason that |
| buy the cheapest brands which will only need replacing | | | | hutch kept coming into my mindperhaps it was |
| before you get them in the door, consider a little story | | | | simply the memories of my great-grandmother, who |
| about some Amish furniture in my | | | | can say? Well one day while walking by an Amish |
| great-grandmother’s salon. | | | | handcrafted furniture store looking in the window |
| | | | | somewhat nostalgically, all of a sudden I saw the hutch! |
| The memory of my great grandmother has remained | | | | I paused in astonishment, then took out my cell phone |
| with me for a number of reasons. As children, my | | | | and called my sister up who, just as excited as me, |
| siblings and I would go over to her house and she | | | | came down immediately to the store to see the piece |
| would always welcome us with coconut cookies and | | | | for herself. |
| ginger ale in her hand. Like her cookies, her house had | | | | |
| a distinctive flavor, and the memory of both has | | | | I ended up buying the hutch, which fortunately |
| remained permanently in my mind to this day. In | | | | wasn’t too expensive since it happened to be a |
| particular, her old dining room hutch has left a lasting | | | | wholesale Amish furniture store. To this day, it sits in |
| impression in my thoughts, a timeless memory which I | | | | my own salon with a strange and uncanny feel which |
| will always cherish. That hutch was the one piece of | | | | reminds me of the presence of my late |
| furniture in her house that my sisters and I absolutely | | | | great-grandmother. It’s a bit of history sitting |
| adored, and the one piece that my great-grandmother | | | | there to remind me of the good times gone by. |
| wouldn’t allow us to touch. She used to keep | | | | |
| these interesting glass figurines in there, which we | | | | Holiday season is around the corner, and you are |
| used to stare at for hours with wonder. Handed down | | | | about to go out and buy something new. What will you |
| to her from her mother, the hutch in her salon was | | | | choose? I urge you not to throw away your money on |
| exquisite, a solid piece of oak with a beautiful finish, and | | | | trifle things that will wear out in a year. Buy something |
| it stood as testimony to the ageless arts of long ago. | | | | timeless, and surely, like my |
| | | | | great-grandmother’s Amish hutch, timelessness |
| As things turned out however, my grandma’s | | | | will become a part of your living room. |